Jesse Beams

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Jesse Wakefield Beams
Born 1898
Belle Plains, Kansas, USA
Died July 23, 1977
Charlottesville, Virginia, USA
Residence Charlottesville, Virginia
Citizenship United States
Fields Physics
Institutions University of Virginia
Alma mater University of Virginia
Doctoral advisor Llewellyn G. Hoxton
Notable students Frank Hereford
Known for Development of the ultracentrifuge
Notable awards National Medal of Science (1967)

Jesse Wakefield Beams (born 1898 in Belle Plaine, Kansas[1]; died July 23, 1977[2]) was an American physicist at the University of Virginia.

Beams completed his undergraduate B.A. in Physics at Fairmount College, University of Wisconsin.[1] He spent most of his academic career at the University of Virginia, where he received his Ph.D. in physics in 1925. He spent the next three years in a physics fellowship at Yale University, where he performed research on the photoelectric effect with Ernest Lawrence.[3] He was appointed a professor of physics at the University of Virginia in 1929. During World War II, he worked on the Manhattan Project, where his ultracentrifuge was instrumental in successfully separating the uranium isotope U-235 from other isotopes. In 1953 he was appointed the Francis H. Smith Professor of Physics at the University. Beams was awarded the National Medal of Science in 1967 for his work on the ultracentrifuge.[4] He retired from the University in 1969.[5]

Beams' contributions include the first linear electron accelerator, the magnetic ultracentrifuge, and the application of the ultracentrifuge to the separation of Uranium isotopes. He held many patents in magnetic bearings and ultracentrifuges. In addition to the National Science Medal, he was awarded the American Physical Society's John Scott Medal, the Lewis Prize of the American Philosophical Society, and the University of Virginia's first annual Thomas Jefferson Award.[6]

Contents

[edit] Patents

Inventor(s) Year Patent No. Invention Title
Trotter, Woodstock, Beams 1935 U.S. Patent 2,016,825  Air Conditioning
Beams, Holmes 1941 U.S. Patent 2,256,937  Suspension of Rotatable Bodies
Masket, Snoddy, Beams 1949 U.S. Patent 2,478,663  Projectile Testing Machine
Beams 1950 U.S. Patent 2,521,112  Method and Apparatus for Separating Fluids by Thermal Diffusion
Beams 1950 U.S. Patent 2,521,891  Valve
Beams, Snoddy, Hoxton 1950 U.S. Patent 2,525,197  Thermal Flowmeter
Beams, Morton 1954 U.S. Patent 2,666,363  Transmission Line Kerr Cell
Beams 1954 U.S. Patent 2,691,306  Magnetically Supported Rotating Bodies
Beams, Snoddy 1956 U.S. Patent 2,763,155  High Altitude Burner Simulator
Beams, Snoddy 1960 U.S. Patent 2,948,572  Centrifuges
Beams 1962 U.S. Patent 3,041,482  Apparatus for Rotating Freely Suspended Bodies
Beams 1962 U.S. Patent 3,066,849  High Vacuum Pump System
Beams 1965 U.S. Patent 3,196,694  Magnetic Suspension System
Goss, Porter, Roberts, Tuve, Beams, Selvidge 1975 U.S. Patent 3,908,933  Guided Missile

[edit] Publications

  • Beams, J. and Haynes, F., The Separation of Isotopes by Centrifuging, (Sept 1936) Phys. Rev., vol. 50, Issue 5, pp. 491-492.
  • Beams, J., Production and Use of High Centrifugal Fields, (1954) Science, vol. 120, Issue 3121, pp. 619-625.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b (1924-02-15) The University of Virginia Record: New Series, Vol. X. Charlottesville: University of Virginia, 52. 
  2. ^ Fowle, Farnsworth. "Jesse W. Beams, 78, A Top Physicist, Dies", New York Times, 1977-07-25, pp. 18. 
  3. ^ Beams and Lawrence. Retrieved on 2008-04-07.
  4. ^ Dabney, Virginius (1981). Mr. Jefferson's University: A History. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 463. ISBN 081390904X. 
  5. ^ "Beams Honored By Special Symposium", Cavalier Daily, 1969-05-20. 
  6. ^ Dabney, p. 377.
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